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From the Los Angeles Times
Major Jewish group recognizes Armenian genocide
The Anti-Defamation League declines, however, to back a congressional resolution to do the same. The decisions spark impassioned reactions.
By Teresa Watanabe
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
August 23, 2007
Reversing long-standing policy, a major American Jewish organization has
officially recognized the early 20th century massacre of Armenians by Ottoman
Turks as genocide -- but set off a new furor Wednesday by declining to support a
congressional resolution that would do the same.
Anti-Defamation
League national director Abraham Foxman called the massacre "tantamount to
genocide" in a statement this week, rebuffing Turkish claims that the bloodshed
was not ethnic cleansing but casualties suffered by both sides in a civil war.
He added, however, that a congressional resolution to recognize the genocide
would be a "counterproductive diversion" that could jeopardize Turkish Jews and
relations among Turkey, Israel and the U.S.
Foxman's statements set off a firestorm of reactions, including anger and
disappointment among Southern California's Turkish and Armenian American
communities.
They also prompted a telephone powwow Wednesday among major American Jewish
organizations to discuss whether to forge a united position on the issue.
" 'Furious' is an understatement" to describe Turkish American reactions, said
Ergun Kirlikovali, West Coast regional director for the Assembly of Turkish
American Associations. "We're disappointed the ADL has caved in to Armenian
pressure and that history in America is being written by lobbyists, not facts."
But Armenian American organizations were not satisfied either.
"We welcome any organization that recognizes the genocide, but opposing the
resolution is disappointing and illogical," said Andrew Kzirian of the Armenian
National Committee Western Region.
Father Vazken Movsesian, an Armenian American priest in Glendale who is active
on the genocide issue, was blunter. Foxman's dual stand "makes it very clear
that his organization is not pursuing justice, but playing the usual political
games," he said. "You would think that a group who has known the horrors of a
Holocaust would be the first one to unequivocally stand up for the rights of
others who have suffered the same."
The issue exploded this week after Foxman fired the executive director of the
group's Boston office for criticizing the ADL chief's failure to recognize the
Armenian genocide and support the congressional resolution.
On Tuesday, Foxman issued a statement recognizing the genocide, saying he had
decided to revisit the issue "out of concern for the unity of the Jewish
community at a time of increased threats against the Jewish people."
In an interview Wednesday, Foxman reiterated his view on the congressional
resolution but said he had agreed to requests to reexamine support for it at the
ADL's national board meeting in November.
The issue has divided the American Jewish community, with many voicing a moral
imperative to recognize the Armenian genocide and others expressing concern that
doing so would jeopardize Turkish Jews or Israel's relations with its strongest
Muslim ally.
The congressional resolution, written by Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank), would
declare that the Ottoman Empire killed 1.5 million Armenians between 1915 and
1923 -- eliminating them from their historic homeland -- and would call on the
president to properly call the massacre a genocide.
Schiff said several American Jewish organizations had conveyed concerns to him
about the resolution's effect on Turkish Jews and Israel. But he said, "This has
nothing to do with Israel, and it's a mistake for any pro-Israel organization to
make a connection where none exists."
He said U.S. work against mass killings in Darfur would be undermined without
recognition of the Armenian genocide.
"To speak out on genocide when it is committed by a politically weak state like
Sudan and not recognize it when committed by the predecessor of a powerful state
undermines our leadership and credibility," Schiff said.
He added that the ADL had "sullied its reputation" as a leading civil rights
group by not supporting the resolution.
Foxman said, "He's entitled to his opinion, but it's wrong."
teresa.watanabe@latimes.com